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Pete Putman

HDTV Expert

Peter Putman is the president of ROAM Consulting L.L.C. His company provides training, marketing communications, and product testing/development services to manufacturers, dealers, and end-users of displays, display interfaces, and related products.

Pete edits and publishes HDTVexpert.com, a Web blog focused on digital TV, HDTV, and display technologies. He is also a columnist for Pro AV magazine, the leading trade publication for commercial AV systems integrators.

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Articles by Pete Putman

HDTV Expert - Samsung Has No Trouble With The Curve
4K Ultra HD

HDTV Expert - Samsung Has No Trouble With The Curve

Samsung's 2014 TV lineup centers on curved 4K LCD panels, spanning the HU9000 and HU8700 series (55 to 78 inches, $4,000 to $8,000) alongside a 110-inch S9 UHD set priced at $150,000. The SEK-2500V UHD Evolution Kit adds HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 support via an Intel Quad Core processor, while a $300 UHD Video Pack bundles five 4K movies for owners lacking streaming options. With global TV sales down 3% in 2013, Samsung's push into 4K content partnerships and Smart Hub software signals a strategic shift toward software-driven revenue.

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DTV TransitionStreaming HD

HDTV Expert - Aereo And The Law Of Unintended Consequences

Aereo's Internet retransmission service, which re-encodes terrestrial digital TV broadcasts using AVC coding over IP, faces mounting legal and technical scrutiny as a 10th Circuit judge ruled its operation indistinguishable from a cable company under the 1976 Copyright Act. The service's antenna-per-subscriber architecture, while designed to sidestep copyright liability, likely contributed to catastrophic buffering failures during the Oscars and Golden Globes broadcasts. For cord-cutters, alternatives like the Channel Master DVR+ with dual tuners and USB-expandable storage, or Hauppauge WinTV USB receivers, may offer more reliable local HD reception without the legal uncertainty.

Columns
HDTV Expert - Digital In The Desert: The 2014 HPA Tech Retreat

HDTV Expert - Digital In The Desert: The 2014 HPA Tech Retreat

The 2014 Hollywood Post Alliance Technology Retreat drew over 500 industry professionals to discuss pressing topics including UHDTV (4K), IP-based facility interconnects replacing traditional copper serial digital interfaces, and a contested comparison between Google's VP9 codec and the emerging HEVC H.265 standard. Signal interface technologies such as HDMI 2.0, MHL, SlimPort, and HDBaseT were examined alongside high dynamic range displays capable of thousands of nits, raising questions about whether HDR and wider color gamuts offer more practical value than increased pixel counts for consumer televisions.

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DTV TransitionPolitics & Policy

HDTV Expert - "Antenna" Digital TV: When All Else Fails...

Terrestrial digital TV proved its resilience during a severe ice storm in southeastern Pennsylvania, where a three-antenna home setup covering roughly 55 channels in the Philadelphia metro market delivered uninterrupted broadcasts while Comcast cable, Verizon mobile data, and VoIP all failed simultaneously. A TiVo HD DVR with a built-in terrestrial DTV tuner remained fully functional, underscoring the practical advantage of maintaining an over-the-air setup alongside subscription services. The experience also frames the ongoing FCC UHF spectrum auction debate, questioning whether reallocating broadcast frequencies to mobile carriers is wise given how reliably the one-to-many broadcast model performs when cellular networks collapse under disaster-driven traffic loads.

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Manufacturing4K Ultra HDMarket Trends & Analysis

HDTV Expert - Consumer Television: It's Business As Usual (Or Maybe Not)

Samsung sold an estimated 49 million flat-panel TVs in 2013, cementing eight consecutive years at the top of the global television market, while Samsung and LG together command over 40% of worldwide TV share. Sony and Sharp continue bleeding market share, with Sharp holding just 5% globally and 3% in the U.S. as of Q3 2013, and LG's 55-inch curved OLED has already dropped 67% in price to roughly $4,910 in the UK. Vizio's new full-array LED 4K smart TVs, starting at $1,000 for a 50-inch model, signal further price compression that threatens premium-tier manufacturers.

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